Y2K Is OK.

The Millennium bug cannot be snuffed out with the usual array of household pesticides. In fact, the Y2K Millennium bug is not even a bug, an insect or a spider. In very simple terms it refers to a computer programmer oversight that has very serious implications.

The millennium bug occurs when a computer chip does not know what year it is. You and I know that the new century will occur when the year 2000 begins, however your computer, fax machine or your video camera may not. Simply put, the computer chip inside a computer driven equipment may read the year 2000 as the year 1900. Why would computers do this since they are supposed to be so smart?

In the early days of the computer industry the first computers did not have massive areas for storing memory. To save memory space for more important program files computer programmers used only two numbers instead of four to read the year. For example for the year 1999, this year, computers display the digits “99” instead of 1999. When the year 2000 arrives on January 1st computers may display the digits “00” to denote 2000.

If your computer is not made Millennium ready (year 2000 compatible) then your computer may interpret the “00” in 2000 as belonging to the year 1900. Your computer may also not realize that the year 2000 is a leap year as well. In essence, machines that are date sensitive (they display

the date and time and that the date is an important part of their function) may shut down or malfunction, giving you incomplete and inaccurate information.

To be sure your own PC is Y2K ok simply perform a date test. To do this:

1. Close all applications
2. Go to the Control Panel
3. Set the date to 31/12/1999
4. Set the time to 23:58:00
5. Switch your PC “off”
6. Wait two minutes.
7. Switch your PC “on”
8. is the date 01/01/2000?
9. If not contact your retailer.

To be sure your own PC will recognize that the year 2000 is a leap year, perform the same test but instead set the date to 28/02/2000. When you turn your PC back on the new date that should be displayed is 29/02/2000. If this does not occur, contact your computer retailer.